EMPLOYABILITY OF INDIVIDUALS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS: TEACHERS' VIEWS

Oğuz Özdamar

Abstract


Individuals with special needs often face challenges in finding and maintaining employment. One of the biggest obstacles to the successful placement and retention of these individuals is the lack of employability skills. This study aims to identify the employability skills that employers and job providers consider important. In the study, the research conducted between 2002 and the present, which reveals the views of employers and job providers, was analyzed. The employability skills mentioned in these studies and given importance by the participants are responsibility, technology, adaptability, teamwork, mental thinking, communication, academic processing and self-management skills, basic work ethics sub-skills, interpersonal skills, social skills, personal care and hygiene, adaptability, teamwork, academic skills, respect for others, following instructions, following safety procedures, attitude, reliability, resilience, flexibility, respect for others, asking for help, ability to prepare a well-prepared job application, quality of work (speed, stamina, competitiveness), job completion, self-control, self-advocacy, self-determination, safety skills, travel skills. The importance of these skills for the employer is explained, and implications for further research are discussed.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


employability, teacher opinion, special education, students with special needs

Full Text:

PDF

References


Agran, M., Hughes, C., Thoma, C. A., & Scott, L. A. (2014). Employment social skills. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Children, 39(2), 111-120. https://doi.org/10.1177/2165143414546741

Baran, N., & Cavkaytar, A. (2007). Employers' opinions and suggestions on the employment of individuals with intellectual disabilities. İlköğretim Online, 6(2), 213-225.

Baxter, M. B., & Young, J. L. (1982). Survey Report What Do Employers Expect From High School Graduates? NASSP Bulletin, 66(458), 93-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/019263658206645816

Blanck, P. D. (1998). Job Placement for Employees with Disabilities: Manpower Leads the Way. Employment Relations Today, 25(3), 57-65. https://doi.org/10.1002/ert.3910250306

Bonner, V. K. H. (2017). Employability Skills for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED580599

Casner-Lotto, J., & Barrington, L. (2006). Are they really ready to work? Employers’ perspectives on the basic knowledge and applied skills of new entrants to the 21st Century US Workforce. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED519465

Chadsey, J., & Beyer, S. (2001). Social relationships in the workplace. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 7(2), 128-133. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrdd.1018

Cotton, K. (2008). Developing employability skills. Northwest Regional Educational Research Laboratory. Retrieved from www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/8/c015.html (Accessed: 09.07.2024).

Das, B. B., & Subudhi, R. N. (2015). Professional education for employability: A critical review. Parikalpana: KIIT Journal of Management, 11(1), 32-45. https://doi.org/10.23862/kiit-parikalpana/2015/v11/i1/133114

Deepa, S., & Seth, M. (2013). Do soft skills matter? Implications for educators based on recruiters' perspective. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 7(1), 7. https://doi.org/10.1177/001440298505100608

Dulas, H. M., & Gilson, C. B. (2024). Perceptions of Educators Using Job Coaching to Increase Workplace Social Skills for Individuals with Intellectual Disability. DADD Online, 22.

Halpern, A. S. (1985). Transition: A look at the foundations. Exceptional Children, 51(6), 479-486. https://doi.org/10.1177/001440298505100604

Ju, S., Pacha, J., Moore, K., & Zhang, D. (2014). Employability skills for entry-level employees with and without disabilities: A comparison between the perspectives of educators and employers. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 40(3), 203-212. https://doi.org/10.3233/JVR-140685

Mccrea, L. D. (1991). A Comparison between the perceptions of special educators and employers: what factors are critical for job success? Career Development for Exceptional Individuals, 14(2), 121-130. https://doi.org/10.1177/088572889101400202

Moon, S., Simonsen, M. L., & Neubert, D. A. (2011). Perceptions of supported employment providers: what students with developmental disabilities, families, and educators need to know for transition planning. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 46(1), 94-105.

Naime; Akçamete, G. (2014). Vocational employment of individuals with special needs: the case of Çorum province. Ankara Üniversitesi Eğitim Bilimleri Fakültesi Özel Eğitim Dergisi, 15(3), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1501/OZLEGT_0000000211

Novak, J. A., Mank, D. M., Rogan, P. M., & Wehman, P. H. (2011). Employment for persons with disabilities: Where are we now and where do we need to go? Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 35(3), 145-151. https://doi.org/10.3233/JVR-2011-0562

Olson, D., Cioffi, A., Yovanoff, P., & Mank, D. (2001). Employers' perceptions of employees with mental retardation. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 16(2), 125-133. https://doi.org/10.3233/JVR-2001-00119

Pickens, J. L. (2015). Factors that affect the employability of transition-age individuals with severe intellectual disabilities: rehabilitation providers' perspectives (Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

Phelps, L. A., & Hanley-Maxwell, C. (1997). School-to-work transitions for youth with disabilities: A review of outcomes and practices. Review of Educational Research, 67(2), 197-226. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543067002197

Pritchett, L. P. (2002). Employability skills rated important by employers and exhibited by high school students with mild mental retardation (Doctoral dissertation, University of Georgia). Retrieved from https://openscholar.uga.edu/record/15420?v=pdf

Riesen, T., Schultz, J., Morgan, R., & Kupferman, S. (2014). School-to-work barriers as identified by special educators, vocational rehabilitation counselors, and community rehabilitation professionals. Journal of Rehabilitation, 80(1). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287413232_School-to-work_barriers_as_identified_by_special_educators_vocational_rehabilitation_counselors_and_community_rehabilitation_professionals

Rimmerman, A., Araten-Bergman, T., Hernandez, B., & Chen, B. (2013). Israeli employers' hiring intentions for recruiting employees with disabilities: how do they compare with US employers? Journal of Social Work in Disability & Rehabilitation, 12(3), 176-193. https://doi.org/10.1080/1536710X.2013.810097

Rothwell, A., & Arnold, J. (2007). Self-perceived employability: Development and validation of a scale. Personnel Review, 36(1), 23-41. https://doi.org/10.1108/00483480710716704

Smith, B., & Katz, S. (2005). Employability standards: teachers' perceptions of inclusion in family and consumer sciences secondary curriculum. Career and Technical Education Research, 30(3), 189-211. https://doi.org/10.5328/CTER30.3.189

Tymon, A. (2013). The student perspective on employability. Studies in Higher Education, 38(6), 841-856. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.604408

Ünal, F. (2003). Employability skills and strategies for gaining these skills. Kurgu, 20(1), 271-288.

Walsh, E., Holloway, J., McCoy, A., & Lydon, H. (2017). Technology-aided interventions for employment skills in adults with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 4, 12-25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-016-0093-x




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejse.v11i4.6103

Copyright © 2015 - 2026. European Journal of Special Education Research (ISSN 2501 - 2428) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing GroupAll rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms.

All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).